Danish Folktales, Legends, & Other Stories

Danish Folktales, Legends, and Other Stories is a collection of translated and annotated Nordic folklore that presents full repertoires of five storytellers along with extensive archival material. The printed book presents some of the most compelling stories of these five important storytellers along with historical and biographical introductions. Of a length suitable for course use, it provides a substantive and enjoyable encounter with Danish folklore. The Danish Folklore Nexus on the accompanying DVD includes the storytellers' full repertoires plus 500 additional stories in both Danish and English along with essays on the changing political, social, and economic landscapes of nineteenth-century Denmark, the history of folklore scholarship, critical approaches to folklore, and comprehensive biographies of the storytellers. It also provides links between related stories and interactive maps that allow readers to see where the stories are set and where they were collected, and a mechanism to search for themes and topics across all the stories.

The basis of the work is the collection of Evald Tang Kristensen (1843-1929). As a young schoolteacher Kristensen set out across Denmark to collect the folktales, ballads, legends, and stories that he saw as the vestiges of a disappearing folk culture. Over the course of five decades he collected thousands of stories and kept detailed biographical notes about the storytellers he met.

Timothy Tangherlini is professor of folklore and chair of the Scandinavian Section at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Timothy Tangherlini is professor of folklore and chair of the Scandinavian Section at the University of California, Los Angeles.